Dress

FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT DRESS - PAGE 3

The National MS Society South Florida Chapter is proud to announce that Pine Crest, North Broward Preparatory School and St. Andrews will all be hosting a Dress Down Day on November 21, to raise funds and awareness to find a cure for multiple sclerosis. Students who donate $5 on Dress Down Day will be able to wear jeans instead of their uniforms for the day. Deborah DelPrete, chair of this year's MS Gala and Fashion Show honoring Monica Goldstein encouraged members of this year's gala committee to approach their children's schools for a Dress Down Day to support the National MS Society and its upcoming 26th annual MS Gala and Fashion Show presented by DBS Financial on January 22, 2009 at the Broward Convention Center.

HALLANDALE -- City Manager R.J. Intindola is looking for a few cheap frills. Determined to draw attention to the cleanup effort in the city`s northwest section, Intindola, 38, said he will don a donated dress if five crack houses are knocked down this month. The original deadline for destroying the houses had been July 9, but Intindola extended it to the 13th if Police Chief Kenneth R. Wagner also oufits himself with a frock. If the houses are not demolished by the deadline, Lt. Ian Pollack will be the one in women`s clothing.

Most brides will pay between $500 and $2,000 for a wedding gown. The sales pressure can be intense as salespeople urge the bride not to skimp on her dream day. And all the little incidentals can add several hundred dollars. Here's a guide to extra costs: -- "Rush" charge: Bridal salons are stocked with samples, not with actual gowns for sale, so about 60 percent of brides end up ordering their dresses from the manufacturer, which takes four to six months. If a bride needs the dress sooner than that, she'll have to pay a "rush" fee of $20-$300.

YouCeleb.com is a dream come true for anyone who likes to dress like their favorite movie characters stars - while on a budget. Want the same Ray-Ban sunglasses worn by Tom Cruise in Top Gun? Or a scarf you saw Rachel Bilson wearing in a recent paparazzi photo? The South Florida-based Website tracks fashion items worn by A-list celebrities, such as Tom Cruise, Jennifer Lopez and Rachel Bilson and then works with designers to offer the items for sale at YouCeleb.com for a discount.

Dear Abby: I need an outside opinion. I selected a cocktail dress (very slim, short sleeves, below-the-knee length with a long slit up the thigh) to wear to my 15-year high school reunion. I am unmarried and won't be taking a date. I was a timid, nearly invisible wallflower in school, but I've blossomed into a mature, confident, attractive (I'm told) woman. My sister thinks the dress is totally inappropriate for the occasion, and that the only reason I chose it was to taunt a married classmate who tried unsuccessfully to begin an affair with me. I was very much interested in him until I found out he had gotten married.

Show's over, Hannah Montana. Time to turn the tassel, Vanessa Hudgens. Sasha and Malia Obama are taking center stage. And their fame - and influence on young girls - has not come a minute too soon for many mothers and children's boutique owners who do not condone the 7-going-on-17 look so popular of late. The Obama girls' classic, conservative style, seen in campaign appearances, and most visibly when they wore custom J. Crew on Inauguration Day, has won over area boutique owners by a landslide: "Adorable.

I read with interest a recent column by the Chicago Tribune`s Michael Kilian, who clearly longs to bring back those Fred Astaire days of yesteryear, when men were men and women were women, and black tie, by gum and by golly, was black tie. Meaning the men`s ties (and tuxes) at formal occasions were actually black. And women actually wore ball gowns. And you knew within reasonable bounds what the heck to expect at "black-tie" events. (Not like today, when you get a crick in your neck from craning to stare -- no matter how hard you try not to -- at one awesome get-up after another: headgear that appears to be taking flight; female shoulders so abundantly padded the wearer looks like a football player in drag; busy, busy Christian Lacroix-style poufs obviously whipped up out of aggressively mismatching scraps left over from other garb.

Quite frankly, I dress up only when I know there are TV cameras around. The rest of the time I'm a slob. I know, I know, but you have confused my public persona with the real Rod. The real Rod has no time to iron or to coordinate neckties with suits. I was into casual dress at the workplace long before it was in vogue. When I'm comfortable, I'm happy. When I'm happy, I work better. Besides, if I dressed in dapper designer duds from head to toe, I would be too intimidating for people to open up to. I have enough problems with that already, and it has nothing to do with my wardrobe.

Dear Abby: I am 15 years old. I have a pretty easy life except for one thing: My mom hates the way I dress. I don't wear all the girly stuff my mom wants me to because it is too prissy for me. I wear pants made for guys and T-shirts, and I have a ton of bracelets and necklaces made of chains and metals. My hair is short and I "spike" it out. My mom cannot accept the fact that I express myself in a way that is different from what she likes. I am a good girl, and I think a very mature teen.

KEEP `EM IN SUSPENSE THIS SEASON. The new styles for the spring and summer of `89 are disturbing, distraught and distressed; classics revisited, with a new sense of fashionable foreboding. We took our cue from Hollywood`s master of stylish suspense, Alfred Hitchcock. It`s simple to recreate Hitchcock`s obsession with beauty and death, fear and fantasy. All you need to do is wear Spring `89s compelling silhouettes -- those anxiously fitted jackets and agitated shirts with shocking slashes on backs and sides.